Automatic engine-starter.



A. S. FAULKNER. AUTOMATIC ENGINE STARTR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24.1915.

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narran arianne PATENT @Elfi AUTOMATIC ENGINE-STARTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application fuea May 24, 191e. serial no. 99,496.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT S. FAULKNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ogden, in the county of Veber and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Automatic Engine-Starters; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an automatic engine starter, and has for one of its objects the provision of a device adapted to be operatively connected with the cranking shaft of an explosive engine for automatically' starting the engine and thereby obviating the necessity for the manual cranking of the engine.

Another object is the provision of a device provided with a wound spring having suitable connections with the cranking shaft of an engine whereby to revolve the cranking shaft under the tension of the spring when the latter 'has been released.

A further object is the provision of means for automatically rewinding the spring by the engine after the latter has been started.

A still further object is the provision of means for automatically llimiting the rewinding of the spring, and the further provision of means for holding the spring inactive after the winding of the same until released thereby.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear as the nature of the invention is more clearly understood from the following specification, the subject matter of the claims, and the views illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which, i

Figure 1 is a side view, partly shown in section, showing the parts in operative assembled relation with each other. j

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing the detail construction of the pinion and its accessories em ployed for establishing a connection during the rewinding of the spring. i

Referring to the'drawings, `wherein similar reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 denotes the base of the supporting frame provided at one end with the upright or standard 2 and at its opposite end with the uppulley 5 are the pawls 6, which may be either swinging pawls or spring pressed pawls, for engaging in one direction the ratchet wheel 7 uponl the end of the main shaft 8 which has one end revolubly mounted within the sleeve 1 and its opposite end revolubly mounted in the upper end of the standard 8 and retained therein against longitudinal movement by the outer collar 9 and the inner collar 10 secured upon the end of the shaft 8 at each side of the standard 3.

Mounted upon the base 1 of the supporting frame in proximity to the standard 3 is the bed 11 of the housing or casing 12 through which the shaft 8 projects, and within the casing 12 is the spring wheel or drum 13 provided with the hubs 14 and 15 revolubly mounted in the bosses 16 of the casing 12, the spring wheel or drum 13 being secured upon the shaft 8 through the medium of the set screw 17 extending through the hub 15 of the spring wheel or drum 13, or the spring wheel or drum 18 may be splined, keyed or Votherwise secured to the shaft 8. Thehub 15 of the spring wheel or drum 13 is provided with the clutch face 18 for engaging the clutch face 19 of the clutch 20 slidably mounted upon the shaft 8 and retained in normal engage* ment with the hub 15 of the spring wheel 13' by the spring 21 interposed between they clutch 2O and the collar 10 upon the shaft 8.' For moving the clutch 20 rearwardly against the tension of the spring 21 for disconnecting the clutch 20 from the hub 15 of the spring wheel 13 the U-shaped clutch operating lever 22 is provided which has its lower ends pivotally mounted in the upper ends of the brackets 23 secured upon the ase 1 of the supporting frame, and its upper end pivotally connected to the clutch operating rod 24v which slidably projects through the upper end of the standard 3 and extends to the dash board of the automobile or other suitable point within easy reach of the operator of the automobile or other vehicle, and for retaining the clutch 20 in its rearward inoperative position the cross bar 25 connecting the legs of the clutch provided with the stem 72 having its free end slidably embracing the curved guide rod 73 provided with the head 74 suitably secured upon the base 1 of the supporting frame, and interposed between the end of the stem 72 and the head 74 of the curved guide rod 73 and surrounding the latter is the compression spring for normally holding the swinging latch 70 in operative engagement with one of the projecting ends of the cross pin 63 of the pinion sha-ft 65 for holding the pin, the shaft 65 and the pinion 67 normally downwardly until the hook end of the latch 70 is engaged by the lug 59 upon the furcation 58 of the wedge block 56 upon the rearward movement of the plunger rod 48 which releases the swinging latch 70 from its engagement with the pin 63 whereupon the pin 63, the pinion shaft 65 and the pinion 67 will be forced upwardly by the compression spring 66 beneath the pinion shaft 65 and thereby effect operative engagement with and establish operative connection between the pinion 67 and the gear wheels 68 and 69.

The operation of the device is briefly described as follows Y Assuming that the drive pulley 5 or other suitable driving means is operatively connected with the crank shaft of the engine and the spring 31 within the casing 12 is duly wound and the clutch 20 operatively engagingthe hub l5 of the spring wheel 13 for preventing the rotation of the spring wheel 13 by the force of the wound spring 31, and the remaining parts of the device being in the respective positions shown in Fig. 1. When it is desired to start the engine the rod 24 is pulled rearwardly for releasing the clutch 20 from the hub 15 of the spring wheel or drum 13 and held in this position for a short period of time, whereby immediately upon the releasing however of the clutch 20 from the hub 15 of the spring wheel 13 the force of the wound spring will revolve the spring wheel 13 in the direction of the arrow together with the main shaft 8 and through the pawl and ratchet connection with the drive pulley 5 will likewise revolve the crank shaft of the engine and also the sleeve 4 and the gear wheel 68 will be revolved. In the meantime the worm threads 34 upon the shaft 8 will cause the carriage block 36 to travel thereon in the direction of the arrow and by rocking the rocker arm 40 will draw the pull rod 44 and its pull block 46 rearwardly, the pull block 46 engaging the contact block 47 will force the same and the plunger rod 48 rearwardly against the compression spring 49 until the contact block 47 is engaged by the hook end of the latch 51 which has been lowered from its elevated position by the spring 53 and the disengagement of the carriage block 36 with the anti-friction roller 55 of the arm 54 of the latch 51, the plunger rod being now retained in rearward position the foot 29 of the latch 26 having dropped into the recess 50 of the plunger rod 48 the hook end of the latch 26 will engage the cross bar 25 of the clutch lever 22 and retain the clutch 20 out of operative engagement with the hub 15 of the spring wheel 13 so that the operator is now relieved of the pull upon the clutch operating rod 24, this, however, takes place shortly after the plunger rod begins its rearward movement and before the contact block 47 of the plunger rod 48 has been engaged by the latch 51. In the meantime during the rearward movement of the plunger rod 48 the wedge block 56 also moves rearwardly and about the time that the force of the spring 31 has been spent and the engine freely running by the explosive mixture, the lug 59 of the furcation 58 of the wedge block 56 contacts with the hook end of the latch 70 and moves the same rearwardly thereby releasing the cross pin 63 thus allowing the pinion shaft 65 to be forced upwardly by the spring 66 for causing the pinion` 67 to operatively engage and connect the gear 68 of the sleeve 4 of the drive pulley 5 and the gear 69 secured upon the shaft 8, and at this juncture the drive pulley 5 being now driven by the engine in the same direction as formerly rotated revolves the gear 68 in the same direction and through its connection with the gear 69 by the pinion 67 the gear 69, the shaft 8 and the spring wheel 13 will be driven in the opposite direction for automatically rewinding the spring 31 within the housing 12, and upon the'reverse direction of rotation of the shaft 8 the worm threads 34 will cause the carriage block 36, the rocker arm 40, the pull rod 44 and its pull block 46 to move in the reverse direction and this movement of the carriage block 36 and its accessories continue until the carriage block 36 engages the anti-friction roller 55 ofthe arm 54 of the latch 51 whereby upon the further movement of the carriage block 36 the latch 51 will be released from its engagement with the contact block 47 of the plunger rod 48 and against the tension of the spring 53 whereupon the force of the compression spring 49 will force the plunger which movement of the plunger rod 48 will cause the foot 29 of the latch 26 to be elevated and release the latch 26 from its engagement with the cross bar 25 of the clutch lever 22 and the clutch 20 will then engage the clutch face of the hub 15 of the spring wheel 13 for locking the same against rotation by the spring 31 which has now been wound, the clutch 20 being forced forwardly by the spring 21 and at the same time the forward movement of the plunger rod 48 rod 48 forwardly fforces therwedge blockV 56 forwardly with I VVthe' bevel faces of. the furcations and 58 of the wedge block V56 engaging and'foreing v downwardly the cross pin ,'63 togetherrwith the' 'pinion shaft 65 Vand the pinionV 67Y againstl the tensionof the spring 66 thereby Y disconnecting thefpinion 67V from its operativeen'gagementwitn thegear 68 upon the sleeve .Lof the pulley, the Vgear wheel 68 p continuing to revolve .with the sleeve 4 and the pulley '5 as long as theV engine remains running, but the gearwheel69, the shaft 8 and thespring wheel 13 remain stationary ing of the engine when desired whereby the above Ydescribed' operation is'repeated.V

I-Iaving described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l.' In a device of the class described, the

. combination'with a crank shaft of. anV eX- plosive engine, of a supporting frame, a starting shaft'rotatably mounted in said frame, means for operatively connecting saidv starting shaft with the crank shaft, a wound spring for revolving the'st'arting shaft in Y one direction, a spring actuated clutch for holding the starting shaft against rotation,

Y Copies of this patent mayr be Ycotained for means for releasing said clutch, means for holding said clutch in released position for Va predetermined time, means for subsequentlyVY reversing the rotation of the start- :ingwshaft for automatically rewinding said spring by the rotation of the Vsaid crank shaft, means for stopping the reverserotation ofsaid starting shaft, and means for releasing the said' clutch holding means to permit Leanser with an engine crank shaft, of a rotatable shaft adapted to be connected thereto, a wound spring on said shaft and adapted to VVrotate said shaft, a clutch collar fixed to said shaft, a spring pressed clutch slidably mounted upon the rotatable shaft and adapted to normally engage the clutch collar to hold the latter against rotation, means for releasing said clutch, means for holding said clutch in released position for a predetermined time, means for subsequently reversing the rotation of the starting shaft, means for stopping the reverse rotation, and means for releasing the clutch holding means.

3. In an engine starter, the combination with an engine cra-nk shaft, of a spring actuated rotatable shaft, means for holding the shaft against rotation, means for releasing and retaining the holding means in inoperative position, a ratchet wheel mounted on the rotatable shaft, a flanged sleeve rotatably mounted on the rotatable shaft, a pawl carried by the flanged sleeve and engaging said ratchet wheel, a beveled gear fixed to said sleeves, a bevel gear fixed to said rotatable shaft, a bevel pinion adapted to be thrown in and out of gear with both of said bevel gears simultaneously, and means operatively connected to said rotatable shaft and adapted to actuate said bevel pinion to cause the reverse rotation of said rotatable shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' ,ALBERT SAMUEL FAULKNER.

lVitnesses GEORGE GLEN SAWYER,

LEE HoBsoN URBEDES.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

